CCSS Statewide Employee Survey Results

Spring 2025

Introduction

This report summarizes the key statewide findings from the Spring 2025 Campus Climate Survey, administered by The Research and Planning Group for California Community Colleges (The RP Group). The survey garnered 100 respondents, providing a cross-section of employee sentiment regarding the campus climate. The results reveal both strengths to build upon and areas requiring intervention to ensure an inclusive, supportive workplace for all employees. The statewide results presented below represent aggregated responses across all participating institutions. However, for some items, results from select colleges are excluded due to institutional customizations in which certain survey questions were not administered locally.

Demographics

The demographic characteristics of employee survey respondents across participating institutions are summarized below. Each institution received its own local data, enabling further disaggregation of categories such as “Other – Write-In” as appropriate for local analyses. The statewide overview presented here provides a comparative reference point for campuses to contextualize their own respondent demographics. Because the gender and race/ethnicity questions appeared at the conclusion of the survey, some participants did not encounter these items. In the table below, we analytically differentiate between respondents who reached the end of the survey but did not answer these non-required questions and those who exited the survey prior to completion.

n %
Employment Area
Academic/Instruction Services 47 49%
Student Support Services 29 30%
Administration Services 13 14%
Other - Write In 7 7%
Employee Classification
Administrator 10 10%
Classified Professional 37 39%
Instructional Faculty 40 42%
Non-instructional Faculty 6 6%
Other - Write In 3 3%
Employment Length
Less than 1 year 8 8%
1-4 years 20 21%
5-9 years 15 16%
10-14 years 16 17%
15 + years 37 39%
Employment Status
Full-time 68 72%
Part-time/Adjunct 25 27%
Temporary 1 1%
Gender*
Endosex 1 1%
Genderqueer 1 1%
Man 12 15%
Woman 23 28%
Prefer not to share 9 11%
Saw Gender Item but did not respond 3 4%
Did Not See Gender Item 32 40%
Race/Ethnicity*
Asian 8 8%
Latine/Hispanic 15 14%
White 22 21%
Not listed 3 3%
Prefer not to disclose 14 13%
Saw Race/Ethnicity Item but did not respond 3 3%
Did not see Race/Ethnicity Item 40 38%
Note:
*Percentages may not add up to 100% for Race/Ethnicity and Gender items since respondents could select more than one option

Topline Survey Results

The topline survey results are intended to provide a general snapshot of the five main sections included in this report:

Campus Climate: The perceptions, attitudes, experiences, and expectations of individuals and groups on a campus, and the quality and extent of the interaction between various groups and individuals within an institution.

Empowerment and Agency: The extent that constituencies have the resources and tools to proactively and effectively make progress towards their personal and professional goals.

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility: Perception of a culture that uplifts and promotes diversity, equity, and inclusion as core to its mission. The culture is reflected through the students it serves, employees hired, teaching and learning, support services, policies and practices.

Safety and Security: The extent that constituencies feel emotionally, mentally, and physically safe and secure at the institution.

Trust and Confidence: The extent to which constituencies personally experience fair and equitable treatment, understand the mechanisms for addressing unfairness, and feel that leadership actively promotes an inclusive and equitable campus environment.

These aggregated indicators below are designed to provide a high-level view of the overall climate experience, capturing perceptions across all employee respondents.

For the majority of the toplines below, percentages reflect the proportion of respondents who responded positively (i.e., “Strongly Agree” or “Agree”) across the survey items that comprise each construct. For the absence of racial tension item, we provide the percent of respondents who reported that they do not experience racial tension on their campus.

Results are grouped into three categories based on employee sentiment.

  • Warrants Attention (0-50%): Half or fewer employees provided a favorable rating in this area, suggesting a need for closer review or improvement.
  • Area of Opportunity (51-75%): A majority of employees responded positively, though there is opportunity for continued growth.
  • Area of Strength (76-100%): Most employees provided favorable responses, indicating a relative strength for the college.

Campus Climate Experiences

The following sections show more detailed findings across five dimensions: (1) Campus Climate Rating Overall, (2) Empowerment and Agency; (3) Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility; (4) Safety and Security; (5) Trust and Confidence.

For agreement survey items, agree and disagree responses are aggregated and all respondents who selected another response (e.g., “Not Sure”, “Neither Agree nor Disagree”, or “Not Applicable”) are aggregated and shown in grey. We exclude all respondents who skipped each survey item, so grey bars connote active responses that do not align with either agreement or disagreement. The full frequency tables for each survey item are provided to the college in an excel file for further analysis.

Campus Climate Rating Overall

Empowerment and Agency

Overall Sense of Belonging

Sense of Belonging within Department/Area

Fair and Equal Treatment

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Accessibility

Racial Tension

Experiences with Discrimination

Experiences with Microaggressions

Experiences with Microaggressions among BIPOC Employees

BIPOC is a term used to acknowledge the historic and ongoing experiences of systemic exclusion, marginalization and inequality faced by African American/Black, Indigenous, and other People of Color. Of the 60 respondents who reported their Race/Ethnicity, 35% identified as BIPOC, meaning they selected at least one of the following race/ethnicity categories: African American/Black, American Indian/Alaska Native, Asian, Latine/Hispanic, Middle Eastern, Arab, or Arab American, or Native Hawaiian or Pacific Islander. The following section presents a comparison of reported experiences with microaggressions between respondents who identified as BIPOC and those who responded to the race/ethnicity item but did not identify as BIPOC.

Safety and Security

Physical Safety

Psychological Safety

Trust and Confidence

Overall Leadership Ratings

The graph below takes the aggregate agreement levels across all items in the survey asking about each of the following groups.

Constituency Group

Department/Area

Executive Leadership

Board of Trustees